For optimal vision, ocular lens proteins should be translucent. Senile cataracts are generally thought to be the result of oxidation damage to expressed DNA sequences that encode for ocular lens proteins. This oxidation damage is generally thought to be caused by free radicals in vivo. As a result of free radical oxidation, the coding DNA sequence is transcribed and translated into polypeptide which is not completely transparent. Eventually this accumulation of errors develops into what is medically recognized as a cataract.
The eye protects its DNA from damage with numerous antioxidant systems. In the development of a senile cataract, I infer that more than one of these antioxidants systems have been compromised or damaged. This injury results in an accrual of damage at a faster rate than repair can take place in the eye.
The prior art generally focuses on one or two components for eye care. Thus, previous attempts to treat senile cataracts have focused on single components such as L-Carnosine or N-Acetyl-L-Carnosine as antioxidants. For example, Mark A. BABIZHAYEV, Method for Topical Treatment of Eye Disease, Published PCT Application No. WO 2004/28536, teaches the use of L-carnosine and Acetylhistidine for cataracts. Alternatively, Mark A. BABIZHAYEV et 20 al., N-Acetylcarnosine Is A Prodrug Of L-Carnosine In Opthalamic Application, 254 CLINICA CHIMICA ACTA 1 (1995), Mark A. BABIZHAYEV et al., N-Acetylcarnosine, A Natural Histidine-Containing Dipeptide . . . , 22 PEPTIDES 979 (2001), and Mark A. BABIZHAYEV, Pharmaceutical Compositions Containing N-acetylcarnosine, Published PCT Application No. WO 1995/10294, teaches to use N-acetylcarnosine for the treatment of cataracts. These types of eye drop treatments have met with only very limited success because no single antioxidant developed previously has been powerful enough to compensate for all of the compromised systems in the eye.
In contrast, I reasoned that a multi-faceted, systems-based approach to supplementing the major antioxidant systems in the eye might be more efficacious. As a result, I focused my research on a multifaceted approach that incorporates a formula comprising numerous antioxidants, each designed to support a specific and crucial failing antioxidant system in the eye. My result is a complex system which is far more effective that a single-ingredient approach, since it is able to slow or stop damage on a much wider scale that of a single component approach.
My invention constitutes a new non-surgical method for treating common eyesight obstructions, i.e., cataracts & lenticular sclerosis, which is very broad in nature. It generally constitutes the administration of a specially formulated anti-oxidant eye drop topically administered three times per day. The eye drop utilizes a systems-type approach to relieving oxidant strain on the eye. Previous art has addressed only one or two antioxidant systems which are insufficient to allow the eye to repair the oxidative damage accrued resulting in the formation of the cataract or vision obstruction. A comprehensive systems approach, however, relieves oxidative strain on the eye in a manner sufficient to allow to eye to repair itself (i.e., dissolve the cataract or lenticular sclerosis) in approximately 70 days in human subjects. This holds true for cataracts so severe that the only other treatment option is laser surgery. This approach is analogous to kidney dialyzation which reduces the normal work load on the kidney, thus allowing the kidney to repair the damage to itself to some degree.
My invention is composed of numerous sophisticated antioxidants which work in concert utilizing a “systems” approach. Some of these antioxidants are so unusual that they must be custom synthesized (i.e. synthetically produced in a laboratory) before being formulated into the eye drop in the correct proportions. These antioxidants, when placed in the eye in a liquid solution form, act together, and possibly synergistically, to supplement the various natural eye antioxidant systems, which would be normally produced in sufficient quantities to protect the eye from genetic damage and error.
However, as a mammal ages, it often becomes incapable of producing sufficient quantities of these antioxidants—due to free radical damage—to protect the highly conserved part of the genome which specifies these crucial eye antioxidants. This results in the formation of aberrant proteins, which cloud the lens, ultimately forming a cataract. By exogenously administering these antioxidants and other nutrients, the eye is temporarily relieved of the burden of synthesizing these antioxidants and can devote its limited energy to repairing the cataract. (See analogy to dialysis, supra). Depending upon the synthetic methods used and the concentration of the antioxidants used in the formula, 15 milliliters (approximately a two month supply of the eye drop) can usually have an obvious positive effect on a human in 2-3 months. The steps involved in manufacturing the invention are the synthesis/purchase of the necessary ingredients, the formulation of these components into a liquid solution, and then the sterilization of this bulk solution through a 0.2-micron filter for sterilization. The sterile bulk solution can then be packaged according to retail needs/requirements.
The efficacy and superiority of my systems-based approach is supported by actual treatment results, which distinguishes my eye drop discovery from other previous attempts to reduce oxidative damage in the eye that allows the eye to repair the cataract. Currently, there are no known disadvantages or limitations of my product.